The Riveras Insert 1 - Not Meant to Be
by J-R Virtual Seasons
Summary: May 1997: Eduardo makes an important decision about his personal life. (This story straddles the events of the EGB episode 'The Unseen'.)


Eduardo was sound asleep with Bess lying next to him when the phone rang just above his head. After a few mumbled complaints and a bit of shuffling about, he sat up and twisted round to take the phone from its cradle on the wall.

'Yeah?' he mumbled.

'Sorry, Eduardo,' Egon's voice came back to him. 'We've had a call from Sunnyside. The Ecto-1 is on its way to pick you up.'

Eduardo acknowledged this with an indistinct vocalisation, hung up the phone and stumbled out of bed. As he struggled into his clothes in the semi-darkness, Bess turned over and yawned.

'Another call?' she said.

'Yeah,' said Eduardo. 'Sorry.'

'What time is it?'

He squinted at the clock on the VCR. 'Coming up to six.'

'God,' said Bess, 'how do you do it?'

'Unwillingly.'

'I don't believe that.' She leaned up on her elbow and smiled at him. 'You answer the call whenever it comes because you're a hero.'

Eduardo gave her a grateful smile in return, saying, 'I'm no hero, babe. Listen, if I leave you my key, will you put it under that trash can again? I don't know how long I'll be. I'm sorry.'

'Just like dating Superman,' said Bess, with a small smile.

'I told you,' said Eduardo, going over to where she lay, 'I'm no hero.' Then he reached under the covers and tickled her; she began squirming and giggling. 'Got it?'

'Whatever you say!' Bess squealed, and began swatting at him with a pillow. He withdrew, and as her laughter subsided, she lay panting and gazing up at him with a face full of affection. He leaned down and kissed her.

'Go back to sleep, babe,' he said. 'I'll see you later.'

* * *

It was about thirty hours later that Kylie sloped into her apartment and collapsed face-down onto her bed. She had been there for less than a second when Pagan jumped heavily onto her thighs and began kneading her backside.

'Ow!' she said, manoeuvring herself into a kneeling position so that Pagan slid off. 'All right, sweetie, I'm sorry – it's a late breakfast, I know.'

'Meoooooww!' Pagan said plaintively.

'You had plenty to see you through the night, anyway,' Kylie said admonishingly, as she went over to the kitchenette. 'I always leave you with enough for emergencies – it's not _my_ fault if you eat it too soon!'

As she doled out forkfuls of cat food, Pagan twisted himself round her legs and at one point jumped up onto the worktop, only to be pushed off again a moment later. He didn't cease yowling until his bowl was placed on the floor, at which point he began gulping down his meaty chunks as if he hadn't seen food for weeks.

Kylie returned to the bed, sat on the edge of it, picked up the paperback she was reading and fanned herself with it for a few moments. She then removed all of her clothes, slid between the sheets and closed her eyes. A few moments later, she turned her pillow over and beat it viciously. Then she closed her eyes again. She was shuffling around restlessly when Pagan jumped onto the bed and settled down next to her.

'Hi, sweetie,' she said, stroking him softly and eliciting a contented purr. 'It's hot, isn't it? It's so hard to sleep during the day, especially in _this_ weather. I _am_ tired, you know.'

Pagan gave a disinterested snort and stretched himself out on the bed, forcing Kylie further over to one side.

'I've been having an interesting time,' she went on. 'I can't seem to switch off and stop thinking about it. To start off with... well, after we got that Sunnyside ghost, I was more angry and frustrated with someone than I ever thought I could be, but by the end of it I realised...' She stopped and furrowed her brow in thought, then finished with, 'Well, I'd stopped feeling _that_ way, anyhow.'

Pagan stretched his back legs and spread his toes, resettled his head and let out a noisy breath.

'Am I boring you?' Kylie said with a smile. She reached out and resumed stroking him. 'I'm sorry, Pagan, but you're the only one I can talk to. You won't give away any of my secrets, right?'

Pagan gave a non-committal grunt.

'I sure hope not,' said Kylie, 'because you've seen everything. In fact, you're about to see something _very_ private; I don't think I'll ever get to sleep otherwise. Give me some room.'

So saying, she pushed Pagan off the bed entirely without ceremony and rolled over. Pagan landed heavily on his feet, then turned round to scowl up at her.

* * *

Eduardo met Bess as she was leaving the coffee house where she worked. She beamed at him and he smiled weakly back, looking exhausted.

'Are you okay?' said Bess, venturing to hug him, then drawing back when he didn't respond. 'I'm not being rude, babe, but... when was the last time you slept?'

'The last time you saw me,' said Eduardo.

'Are you kidding?'

'It turned out there were two or three things to do, and they kept us busy all night.'

'So what the hell are you doing _here_?' said Bess. 'You need to go home and get some sleep!'

'I can't,' said Eduardo. 'Not yet. I needed to see you right away.'

'Oh, I see,' said Bess, and she looked away. 'Well then, it's good of you not to make me wait... if you're going to say what I think you're going to say.'

'I'm going to say that it's not working out between us,' said Eduardo.

'I thought so.'

'You're not surprised?'

'No. I thought this might be coming, although I have to admit, I hoped I was wrong. There's somebody else, isn't there? You really like me, but you like her more.'

'I don't guess you want to hear a bunch of gentle let-downs, huh? I'm sorry. I only realised today that it's not really right with us.'

'I wonder what happened to make you realise _that_,' said Bess, starting to sound a little angry.

'Nothing major,' Eduardo said defensively. 'I wasn't waiting to dump you 'til I'd finished consummating a new relationship, if _that's_ what you mean.'

'Oh. So Kylie wasn't _that_ receptive, huh?'

'What makes you think this has something to do with Kylie?'

'I always knew she was my competition,' said Bess. 'You've pretty much had one eye on me and one eye on her ever since you asked me out... and probably _both _eyes on her before that.'

Eduardo looked caught out. 'I didn't mean...'

Bess sighed and said more gently, 'I know you didn't want to hurt me, and I believe you really wanted things to work out between us. I guess maybe we've both been kidding ourselves for a while now. I'm disappointed it hasn't worked out, but I'm not in love with you or anything like that. I don't know if I could've been if you'd let me... but I guess that's irrelevant. You don't have to feel bad.'

'But I _do_ feel bad,' said Eduardo. 'You've been so good to me... just about better than anyone.'

'Don't say I'm _too_ good for you and you don't deserve me,' said Bess. 'That's a real kick in the teeth when you're being dumped.'

'Even if it's true, and not really anything to do with the dumping?'

'Yes.'

'All right,' said Eduardo, 'I won't say it.'

'What would it mean, anyway?' said Bess. 'That you don't deserve me but you _do_ deserve Kylie?'

'Of course I don't deserve Kylie, and I might not ever get her.'

'But you think there's a chance now, don't you?'

Eduardo looked away. 'It doesn't really matter what I think. I'm usually wrong, anyway.'

'You're not,' said Bess, 'and it _does _matter what you think, even though you never told _me_ about it.'

'That's nothing against you,' said Eduardo. 'I don't know if I could ever be like that with anyone.'

'Yeah? Well, I guess you'll find out. And in the meantime, be good to yourself. You aren't always, you know.'

So saying, Bess touched his arm, gave him a sad little parting smile, then turned and went on her way.

* * *

Eduardo looked tired and unhappy as he went to retrieve his key from underneath one of the trash cans beneath the stairs to his apartment. When he found no key there he exhaled heavily, mooched round to the front of the house, ascended the few steps to Carl and Beth's front door and knocked. It was Carl who answered.

'Lost something?' he said pointedly.

'Please, Carlos, I haven't slept in over thirty hours,' said Eduardo.

'Why not?' said Carl, looking him up and down suspiciously. 'What the hell were you doing for all that time?'

'Nothing.'

Carl's eyes narrowed. 'You know something, Eddie? I believe you.'

'Please can I have my key?'

'Sure. And you owe me five bucks for the copy.'

Eduardo closed his eyes and adopted the expression of someone who knows he has a struggle ahead of him, but not the strength to face it.

'Copy?' he said warily.

'You _know_ you can't keep letting that girl leave keys lying around and inviting burglars into my home,' said Carl. 'So I did what _you_ should have done three months ago and made her a copy.'

'I only started seeing her _four_ months ago!'

'And screwing her in my guest room _three_ months ago! And _then_ telling her to leave the key sitting out in public for anyone to see! Well, she won't be doing it again!'

'That's right, she won't, because I just ended it with her.'

'_What_?' Carl barked. 'What did you go and do a fool thing like that for, you stupid kid? You're not gonna get a better girl than that one! You probably think you're better-looking than her, don't you? Well even if that's true, you should've seen past it. Don't you know she was good for you?'

'Carlos,' said Eduardo. 'Carl. Will you _please_ give me my key?'

'Fine,' said Carl, retrieving the key from his back pocket and thrusting it into Eduardo's hand. 'And you can come and buy the copy from me the next time you're stringing along some innocent girl on a regular basis.'

'I'm not gonna give a key to just anybody, Carlos.'

'Then maybe you shouldn't _screw around _with just anybody, you horny little pervert!'

Eduardo had already turned away and was heading for his staircase by the time this sentence was out of his brother's mouth. He had almost made it to his front door when he heard footsteps on the metal behind him. Turning, he saw Beth looking anxiously up at him, and he gave her a watery smile.

'Are you okay, Eduardo?' she said. 'I couldn't help overhearing. Well, I probably _could_ help it but... anyway, I'm sorry. I know you really liked her.'

'Yeah, I liked her,' said Eduardo, 'but don't feel bad for me; I was the one who finished it. I guess I just didn't like her _enough_.'

'Don't be too hard on yourself,' said Beth. 'If it didn't feel right, then it _wasn't _right. Sometimes these things are just... well, not meant to be.'

'Yeah, I guess,' said Eduardo, as he unlocked the door to his apartment. 'Thanks, Beth,' and he disappeared inside.


End file.
